EAST BAY PARATRANSIT RIDERS GUIDE

EAST BAY PARATRANSIT RIDERS GUIDE East Bay Paratransit 1722 Broadway Oakland, CA 94612 Phone: (510) 287-5000 www.eastbayparatransit.org July 2011

DISCLAIMERS The East Bay Paratransit Riders Guide may contain omissions or errors. The Guide is not legal advice, and it does not create any legal obligation on the part of anyone. In the event of conflict between the Guide and any law, policy or contractual obligation of AC Transit, BART, or East Bay Paratransit, the law, policy or contract will prevail. East Bay Paratransit does not compensate riders for their expenses or losses due to any problem with the service, nor is East Bay Paratransit liable for any inconvenience or expense caused as a result of using the program. Service with East Bay Paratransit is provided primarily with lift vans, although other types of vehicles are occasionally used, as appropriate. Assignment to a vehicle is exclusively at East Bay Paratransit s discretion.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Taking Your Paratransit Trip 11 Pick-up. 11 Eligibility 3 5 Minute Rule 11 Full Eligibility 3 Early Pick-ups 11 Limited Eligibility. 3 Late Pick-ups 11 Temporary Eligibility 3 No-Shows and Late Cancels 11 Length of Eligibility 3 Using the Lift 12 Visitor Eligibility 4 Children on Paratransit 12 Package Limitations 13 Bringing Other People 4 Life Support Equipment 13 Personal Care Attendants 4 Traveling with Animals 13 Companions 4 Driver Responsibilities & Behaviors 14 Service Area 5 Map of Service Area 5 Rider Responsibilities & Behaviors 15 Minimal Behaviors 15 East Bay Paratransit Fares 6 Caregiver Responsibility 15 One Way Fares 6 Rider Behavior on East Bay Paratransit 16 Purchasing Tickets 7 Penalties 17 Appeals 17 Service Hours/Days 7 Exceptions to the Rules 17 Reservations 7 Feedback 18 Information You Must Provide 8 Complaints 18 Your Reservation Request 8 Praise 18 Pick-up Window 8 Comment Cards 18 Shared Rides 8 Survey 18 Vehicle Types 9 Rider Advisory Committee 19 Standby 9 Secret Riders 19 Calling with Questions 9 Changing Your Reservation 9 Lost and Found 19 Canceling a Trip 9 Brochures 19 Standing Orders 9 Other Paratransit Systems 20 Regional Trips 10 Contact East Bay Paratransit see back cover

Introduction East Bay Paratransit is a public transit service for people who are unable to use regular AC Transit buses or BART trains because of a disability or a disabling health condition. East Bay Paratransit transports riders in sedans, or in vans equipped with a wheelchair lift. East Bay Paratransit was established by AC Transit and BART to meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This Riders Guide describes how to use East Bay Paratransit. Think of the Guide as the Driver s Manual for Paratransit. You should carefully read this Guide to learn the rules of the road. East Bay Paratransit publishes several brochures on different aspects of the service. Look at the end of this Guide for a list of brochures that you may find useful. 1

To Caregivers and Social Service Agencies This document was written for all paratransit riders and is phrased as if the rider is reading the document. We know that many caregivers and others will assume the responsibility of reading and understanding this information as well as making reservations and other arrangements for the rider. However, if the person you take care of will be riding without an attendant, it is very important that he or she be able to follow the basic rider responsibilities that start on page 15. Contacting East Bay Paratransit is easy Call (510) 287-5000 Other important phone numbers are on the back cover of this Guide 2

Eligibility To use East Bay Paratransit, you must apply through the Eligibility Certification Department and be found eligible for the service. The process includes both a paper application and an in-person interview. If you are eligible you will receive a letter that explains your eligibility and what kind of service you will receive. If you have questions about eligibility, call East Bay Paratransit. Full Eligibility If you are never able to use AC Transit buses or BART trains without having another person there to help you, you will have full eligibility for paratransit. That means you will be allowed to take all your transit trips on paratransit. You may choose to travel on AC Transit or BART when you can, for example when traveling with an attendant. which trips you should plan to take on regular transit. We may refuse to provide a paratransit trip that you are able to take on AC Transit or BART. Temporary Eligibility If your disability is temporary or your health is expected to improve, you will be given paratransit eligibility for a limited time, after which you are expected to return to using regular AC Transit buses or BART trains. Length of Eligibility Your full or partial eligibility to use East Bay Paratransit service is assigned for a period of three years. You must reapply every three years for continuous service. Reapplication is required even when your disability is permanent and unchanging. East Bay Paratransit will send instructions to you on how to reapply before your eligibility expires. Conditional (Limited) Eligibility If the Eligibility Certification Department determines that you are able to use AC Transit or BART independently for some trips, but not others, you will be given conditional eligibility. You will be allowed to take some of your trips using East Bay Paratransit service. We will explain which trips you may take on East Bay Paratransit, and 3

Visitor Eligibility All public transit agencies in the United States offer paratransit services to meet the requirements of the ADA. If you travel outside the Bay Area your eligibility would allow you to use the ADA paratransit systems of any public transit agency in the United States for up to 21 days per year. The ADA paratransit services in the Bay Area are coordinated so your East Bay Paratransit eligibility will be honored by all Bay Area transit agencies. Bringing Other People ADA eligible riders, their personal care attendants, and their companions are allowed to use East Bay Paratransit. Both personal care attendants and companions must travel to and from the same locations as the eligible rider they are traveling with. You must make reservations for them when you make the reservation for yourself. Personal Care Attendants A personal care attendant is someone you need to help you to perform daily activities, such as eating, dressing, personal hygiene, or finding your way. When you apply for paratransit, you will be asked about your need for a personal care attendant. Personal care attendants pay no fare when they ride with you. East Bay Paratransit reserves the right to contact your health care professional to verify your need for an attendant. Fraudulently claiming to travel with an attendant to avoid paying a fare for a companion may result in suspension of service. Companions A companion is a friend, relative, or other person who is traveling with you, but is not coming along primarily to help you. You must make a reservation for your companion when you make your own reservation. You can always take one companion, but additional companions can only be added on the day of service if there is room. Companions pay the same fare as you to ride paratransit. 4

Service Area East Bay Paratransit service is available within the AC Transit and BART areas shown on the map below. Map of Service Area East Bay Paratransit serves the following cities: Alameda Albany Berkeley Castro Valley El Cerrito El Sobrante Emeryville Fremont Hayward Kensington Milpitas (part) Newark Oakland Piedmont Pinole (part) Richmond San Leandro San Pablo Union City You can also go to and from any of these cities to anywhere in San Francisco. You can go elsewhere in the Bay Area, beyond these cities by transferring to other ADA paratransit services. 5

Fares When you make a reservation for a trip on East Bay Paratransit, you will be told the fare for your trip. You must pay your fare as soon as you get into the vehicle. You may pay in cash, with tickets, or with a combination of the two. If you are paying with cash, bring exact change because the drivers cannot make change. Tickets are available in $4.00 or $1.00 denominations and come in books of ten. ONE WAY FARES For service in the East Bay Fare Distance $4.00 0 to 12 miles $6.00 >12 miles, up to 20 miles $7.00 >20 miles For service to / from San Francisco* 1) If your trip starts or ends in: 2) And your pick-up or drop-off is: Up to Civic Center BART 3) Your fare is Beyond Civic Center BART Any Daly City address Zone 1: Alameda, Berkeley, Emeryville, Piedmont, Oakland Zone 2: Albany, Castro Valley, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Kensington, Orinda BART, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Richmond, San Pablo. Zone 3: Fremont, Hayward, Hercules, Milpitas, Newark, Pleasanton BART, Pinole, Union City $6.00 $7.00 $8.00 $7.00 $8.00 $9.00 $8.00 $9.00 $10.00 * San Francisco trips which go beyond the BART service territory that are carried by East Bay Paratransit also pay an additional MUNI paratransit fare of $2 6

Purchasing Tickets You can buy books of East Bay Paratransit tickets in a number of locations: In person or by mail from East Bay Paratransit, 1722 Broadway, 1 st floor, Oakland 94612. Shipping and handling charges are added to mail orders. AC Transit Customer Service Center, 1600 Franklin St., Oakland 94612. BART Customer Service Center, Lake Merritt BART Station, Oakland 94607. Some stores in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Some senior centers or independent living centers. Call East Bay Paratransit for the ticket sale location nearest you. Service Hours / Days ADA paratransit is designed as a direct substitute for regular bus or BART service. Therefore, East Bay Paratransit service is only available near operating bus and train lines. Specifically, paratransit service is available within ¾ of a mile of an AC Transit bus route or within ¾ of a mile of a BART station during the same hours that buses and trains are running on those routes. Both the origin and destination of the paratransit trip must meet this standard. The East Bay Paratransit Customer Service Center will tell you if paratransit will be available for any particular trip you might want to make. East Bay Paratransit observes the following holidays. Service coverage on holidays is identical to the AC Transit bus and BART holiday schedule. New Year s Day Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. President s Day Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Veteran s Day Thanksgiving Day Friday after Thanksgiving Christmas Day Reservations Travel on East Bay Paratransit is by advance reservation only. No same day reservations are accepted. Reservations are made on the phone to the East Bay Paratransit Customer Service Center. Reservation calls are accepted from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day, including weekends. You can make a reservation as early as seven days in advance. 7

Information You Must Provide Either you or your caregiver can call to make a reservation for you. A Customer Service Representative will enter your request into our reservation system, which will assign your trip to a vehicle. Have this information ready to make a reservation: Your name, home address and phone number. The address where we will pick you up. The address where we will drop you off. Any special instructions that the driver may need, such as gate codes, directions to a hard-to-find door, etc. The date you want to travel. The time you want to be picked up or the time you want to be dropped off at your destination. Whether you are traveling with a personal care attendant or a companion. Whether you are traveling with a service animal. Whether you will be using a mobility aid such as a wheelchair, walker, or scooter. Your Reservation Request You have the option of requesting a reservation based either on the pick-up time you want, or on the time you want to be dropped off at your destination. If you want to be dropped off at a particular time, the reservation system will calculate a pick-up time for you. It will take into consideration traffic and the fact that other riders may be picked up and dropped off along the way. The Customer Service Representative will offer you the best reservation time possible. However, the exact pick-up time you want may not be available. Customer Service Representatives are only allowed to check a limited number of different times for your reservation if you aren t happy with the times initially offered. Pick-Up Window When you make your reservation, you will be told a 30-minute range of time during which you can expect the East Bay Paratransit vehicle to arrive to pick you up. This 30-minute period is called a pick-up window. Your vehicle may arrive at any time during the 30-minute pick-up window. Shared Rides East Bay Paratransit is a sharedride service. This means that other riders with different destinations will be picked up and dropped off along the way and the routing is not necessarily linear. Your trip may take longer than if you took a taxi or drove yourself. Your ride may take a similar amount of time as the same trip would take on an AC Transit bus, including transfers and wait times. 8

Vehicle Types Service with East Bay Paratransit is provided primarily with lift vans, although other types of vehicles are occasionally used, as appropriate. Assignment to a vehicle is exclusively at East Bay Paratransit s discretion. Standby In a few cases, the Customer Service Representative may be unable to find a vehicle with space for your trip while you are on the phone. In this case you will be asked, Do you want to be put on standby? If you say yes, the staff will keep a record of your trip request. A reservation will be made for you that is within one hour of the time you requested when you were on the phone. You must call Customer Service at (510) 287-5000 between 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm the night before you travel to confirm your pick-up window so you will know when your vehicle will arrive. Calling with Questions The Customer Service Center at East Bay Paratransit is open 7 days a week during all hours of operation roughly from 4 a.m. until after midnight. You can call at any time with questions about your reservation or your trip. Changing Your Reservation You must call the reservation number at least the day before to make changes in your trip. Requests for changes on the day of your trip cannot be accommodated. Do not ask the driver to make changes to your trip, such as dropping you off at a different address. Drivers are not allowed to make changes to the trips they are assigned. Canceling a trip Cancel a trip you do not plan to take as soon as you are aware that you don t want it. You can call to cancel at any time of the day or night. If it is not during business hours, your message will be recorded. Standing Orders If you need to go to the same place over and over, at least once a week for at least a month, you can request a standing order through the Customer Services Center. Once set up, East Bay Paratransit will continue to pick you up without the need for you to make an individual reservation for each trip. If there is no immediate space for your standing order, you may be put on a waiting list. While you are on the waiting list, you can make individual reservations 9

for each day s trips in the normal fashion. Standing order rides are normally cancelled automatically on holidays as most people do not need their rides then. An exception is trips to and from dialysis which are scheduled 365 days per year. However, if you want your standing order trip on one of the holidays, call and make a reservation for that day. See section Service Hours/ Days on page 6 for a complete list of East Bay Paratransit holidays. There are other, special rules for standing orders. Ask for the Standing Orders brochure that explains this service, and the associated rules in detail. Although it is possible to schedule a Regional trip the day before service, it is much more likely you will get the reservation you want if you call as early as you can - up to seven days in advance of when you want to travel. While East Bay Paratransit can accommodate a trip request called in the day before service, the other Paratransit provider(s) may not be able to accommodate your trip request. If you prefer, you can call both East Bay Paratransit and the other paratransit system on your own to make reservations. Regional Trips Regional trips are long distance paratransit trips outside of the area East Bay Paratransit serves. Part of the trip is on East Bay Paratransit and part is on a different ADA paratransit service. In many cases you can make a reservation for the whole trip through East Bay Paratransit. We will contact the other paratransit provider to arrange the part of your trip that is on their service. Incidents that occur while traveling with another paratransit provider or dissatisfaction with their policies and procedures cannot be addressed by East Bay Paratransit. 10

Taking Your Paratransit Trip Pick-up Remember, when you make your reservation, the Customer Service Representative will confirm your trip by giving you a 30-minute pick-up window. Your vehicle may arrive to pick you up at any time during the window, but you must be ready to leave and go to the vehicle at the beginning of your pick-up window. It is your responsibility to wait where you will be able to tell that the vehicle has arrived. Drivers are not allowed to leave sight of their vehicle. At most they can announce their arrival at your door or at the lobby of a building, if that can be done without leaving a vehicle unsupervised with passengers aboard. 5 Minute Rule Be ready! The driver is allowed to wait only 5 minutes for you! It is your responsibility to be ready to take your trip. If you do not meet the vehicle when it arrives, your driver will attempt to find you and East Bay Paratransit will attempt to telephone you. If you cannot be located or choose not to start boarding within five minutes, the driver may leave and continue to their next pick-up. If you miss your pick-up, there may be a substantial wait for another pick-up from East Bay Paratransit. In addition, you may be penalized for failing to take the trip. Early Pick-ups Sometimes your vehicle will arrive before the beginning of the window because of a cancellation or especially light traffic. If your vehicle arrives before the pick-up window, you may wait to get on the vehicle until the start of your confirmed pick- up window, or you may get into the vehicle and leave right away. It s your choice. Late Pick-ups Sometimes your vehicle may be late picking you up. If your vehicle has not arrived by the end of the pick-up window, you can telephone East Bay Paratransit to find out the estimated arrival time. If your ride arrives late, you may decline to take the trip and you will not be penalized. No-shows and Late Cancels If you don t take a trip you have reserved on East Bay Paratransit, and you didn t call to cancel it ahead of time, it is called a no-show. It is a serious violation of East Bay Paratransit s rules for riders. Canceling a trip less than one hour before the scheduled pick up carries the same 11

penalties as no-showing. You will be penalized if you have a pattern of repeated no-shows or late cancels. Penalties are listed on page 16. If you no-show a ride, East Bay Paratransit will make every effort to determine whether you will still need other rides you have scheduled that day. If we believe you will not be using the return ride on a round trip or other rides scheduled that day, they will be cancelled. Therefore, it is important that if you noshow a trip, you must call East Bay Paratransit immediately to let us know that you will still be using other rides you have reserved that day. Using The Lift If you can walk but are picked up by a van and would find using the stairs difficult, you can be taken on board the vehicle on the lift. All the vehicles carry folding wheelchairs. The driver will have you sit in one while going up the lift. Once on board you will transfer to a regular seat. East Bay Paratransit vans have passenger lifts that meet ADA requirements. These lifts can handle wheelchairs and other mobility devices up to 48 inches long by 30 inches wide when measured 2 inches above the ground, and that weigh up to 600 pounds including the rider. If your mobility device is larger or heavier, East Bay Paratransit may not carry you. Children on Paratransit Children may travel on East Bay Paratransit as eligible riders and as companions. Children pay the same fares as adults. All children who are under six years old, or who weigh less than sixty pounds, must travel in a child safety seat in order to comply with California State Law. Parents or guardians must provide their own child safety seat and take it with them when they exit the vehicle. East Bay Paratransit will not carry a child without a safety seat. Our drivers will help you carry or install your child s safety seat. Drivers are not permitted to lift or carry children. Children as Eligible Riders Children whose disability (as opposed to their age) would prevent them from using regular buses and trains by themselves may be eligible for paratransit. Very few children under the age of 5 meet this requirement. However, children under the age of 5 who are eligible must travel with a parent or a personal care attendant. Older eligible children may be required to travel with a personal care attendant if the child is seriously disruptive or presents a safety hazard to themselves or others. Children as Companions Eligible riders may bring one child as a companion and may bring additional children if space is available. The rider should call on the day of service to find out if there is room. 12

The eligible rider must be able to manage the child by themselves or with the help of their personal care attendant. Package Limitations You may only travel with the amount of packages that will fit on your lap or at your feet. Your driver can help you by carrying up to two packages to and from the vehicle that are no larger than grocery bags. You must carry any other packages either by yourself or with the help of an attendant or companion. must be well behaved. It must not soil or damage the vehicle, bark, growl, or act in an aggressive or threatening manner. You must tell the Customer Service Representative that you are bringing an animal when you make your reservation. Pets You may travel with a small pet as long as the animal is fully enclosed in a secure pet carrier that you can manage and hold on your lap or place at your feet. Life Support Equipment You can bring your respirator, portable oxygen, or other life support equipment as long as it does not violate laws or rules related to transportation of hazardous materials. Your equipment must be small enough to fit into the paratransit vehicle and be managed by you or your personal care attendant. Traveling With Animals Service Animals You may bring your guide dog or other service animal that has been trained to help you with your disability. The service animal must be under your direct physical control and 13

Driver Responsibilities and Behavior East Bay Paratransit drivers have many responsibilities. Drivers are required to: Get out of the vehicle and let you know they have arrived. Offer assistance, such as pushing your wheelchair or offering their arm to help you walk safely to the vehicle and assisting you in and out of the vehicle. Wear a uniform and a name tag. Carry a single small load of packages to or from the vehicle such as two grocery bags. Operate the vehicle and lift in a safe manner and safely secure wheelchairs on the vehicle. Keep their vehicle in sight when parked if riders are aboard. Be courteous at all times. Collect the fare listed on their schedule or manifest. Give you a receipt for the fare if you want one. Carry only the riders assigned to them along with attendants and companions who have reservations. Go only to the destinations listed on the manifest or as notified by their dispatcher. Drivers are NOT ALLOWED to: Enter the rider s residence or go past the lobby of a public building. Leave passengers in the vehicle unattended. Perform any personal care assistance such as assisting riders to dress. Smoke, eat, or drink in the vehicle. Use a cell phone for personal calls, play loud music, or wear headphones. Be rude or harassing to the passengers. Take information from the rider about cancellations or changes in reservations. Accept tips. Lift or carry riders, or carry wheelchairs up and down steps. All drivers are trained in basic first aid but they are not medical technicians. If there is a medical or health emergency on-board, such as a rider having a seizure or a dialysis patient bleeding, the driver will pull over, call 911, and wait for trained help. 14

Rider Responsibilities and Behavior Riders, their companions, and their personal care attendants must be responsible in their use of East Bay Paratransit and follow our rules of conduct to ensure the safety and comfort of all riders and the driver. In order to successfully ride East Bay Paratransit services, riders must be able to comply with the following standards which were developed in consultation with East Bay Paratransit s rider advisory committee: Minimal Behaviors Required of all East Bay Paratransit Riders Enter and exit the vehicle voluntarily. This means the rider should not require an inordinate amount of coaxing or any force and not require that a specific caregiver or family member be present. The rider must be able to follow the driver s instructions. Stay buckled in their seat or wheelchair while the vehicle is moving. The rider must not attempt to move around the vehicle or require supervision from the driver while the vehicle is in motion. Not attempt to exit the vehicle whenever it stops: at stop signs, lights, in traffic, while picking up or dropping off other passengers. Be able to refrain from hitting and/ or touching other riders, the driver, or the seats of the driver and other riders. Refrain from sudden or loud verbal outbursts which could threaten the health of fragile riders or the driver s safe attention on driving. Refrain from threats, and/or racial or sexual remarks. Not invite sexual attention from the driver or other passengers. Caregiver Responsibility Some riders are mentally or cognitively impaired or have severe memory problems such that they cannot be safely left on their own at either the pick-up point or the drop-off point. It is the responsibility of the rider s caregivers or family to clearly identify these riders to East Bay Paratransit so that East Bay Paratransit can inform the driver and take appropriate precautions. However, the driver cannot act as an attendant for these riders. Cognitively impaired riders will be allowed to travel without an attendant only as long as they exhibit safe behavior in the vehicle. An attendant or caregiver must be present at the pick-up point and at the drop-off point for riders who cannot be left alone. If a responsible attendant or caregiver is not present when the driver attempts to pick-up or drop-off these riders, it can seriously disrupt 15

the driver s schedule. If East Bay Paratransit encounters absences of an attendant or caregiver, service to the rider may be suspended and the situation reported to adult protective services. Rider Behavior Riders, companions, and personal care attendants must: Avoid no-shows and late or repeated cancellation of reservations. Get aboard the vehicle promptly, remain seated once on board, wear the seat belt, and keep arms, legs, and head inside the vehicle. Always pay a fare. Riders, companions, and personal care attendants must not: Eat, drink, play radios or CDs aloud, or litter on the vehicles. Soil the vehicle with bodily fluids or waste, or fail to maintain acceptable standards of personal hygiene. Distract the driver or interfere with the vehicle or equipment. Carry fireworks, flammable liquids, or weapons aboard the vehicle. Use abusive, threatening, or obscene language to other riders or any East Bay Paratransit staff. Commit violent or illegal actions. Fraudulently obtain paratransit service for themselves or for others. Behave in ways that disrupt the service or delay the vehicle. Harass other riders or EBPC staff, including racial, sexual, gender, or age-related harassment. Penalties The basic penalty for no-shows and late cancels is a 30-day suspension of service after six no-shows or late cancels in a calendar quarter. You will be warned in writing if you have accrued four no-shows or late cancels in a quarter. If you are suspended and then continue to show a pattern of noshows or late cancels after your original suspension has ended, you may subsequently be suspended for longer periods, as shown below. Period of Suspension 1 st suspension 30 days 2 nd suspension* 60 days 3 rd suspension* 90 days 4 th suspension* Indefinite pending demonstration that the problem behavior can and will be changed. Minimum 90 days. *within two years of the previous suspension You are not penalized for no-shows or late cancels that occur because of sudden emergencies which make it impossible for you to cancel more than one hour before your trip. 16

However, because only one hour s notice is needed to cancel, it is anticipated that you will usually be able to cancel in a timely fashion. You are not penalized for being a no show if your ride arrived late, that is, after the end of the pick up window, or if a reservation error was made by the Customer Service Representative. You are encouraged to discuss your record with staff if you feel you have been no-showed in error. Suspension is also the penalty for offenses other than no-shows or late cancels. Based on the seriousness and frequency of the offense, penalties generally follow the progressive procedure above. However, immediate indefinite suspension of service may be imposed if that is necessary to preserve the safe operation of East Bay Paratransit. Unless immediate suspension is warranted, a rider will receive a written or verbal warning before being suspended so that they can correct the behavior that is causing the problem. Anyone who commits a physical assault or other illegal act will also be subject to criminal prosecution. Appeals If you are suspended, you have the right to appeal. You will be sent information about how to appeal with your suspension letter. A panel, consisting of staff from AC Transit or BART and a member of the rider s advisory committee, will hear the appeal. Riders who appeal a suspension for multiple no-shows and late cancels will be allowed to continue to use East Bay Paratransit pending the outcome of an appeal hearing. For other types of suspensions, East Bay Paratransit executive staff will decide on a caseby-case basis whether a rider who has appealed a suspension can use the service pending the outcome of the appeal hearing. This decision will be based on consideration of the safety and security of system operation. Exceptions to the Rules East Bay Paratransit recognizes that some disabilities and health related conditions may cause people to act in ways that may break some East Bay Paratransit rules. For example, a person with some conditions may have involuntary verbal outbursts. East Bay Paratransit will take disability related conditions into consideration before suspending service. However, suspension will still be an option if it is necessary to maintain the safe operation of the system. In such cases, service can be restored when the rider and the rider s caregivers develop a plan to ensure that the safety of East Bay Paratransit is not compromised. 17

Feedback Complaints East Bay Paratransit uses communication to and from our riders to keep track of how the paratransit system is operating. Please call to let us know when you have a problem, so that we can work to correct it for the future. If you have a problem on a trip, just give us your name, the date, and approximate time of your trip. We can identify the Customer Service Representative who made your reservation or the driver who provided the ride. You can make a complaint in any of the following ways: Tell a Customer Service Representative that you want to make a complaint. Call East Bay Paratransit and leave a message in the Service Comments Mailbox. Write to the East Bay Paratransit Administration Office. Submit your comment through our website: www.eastbayparatransit.org Praise It s important to let staff know when things go well. Use any of the above methods to communicate your positive experiences. Your praise will be forwarded to drivers or other staff if you desire. Comment Cards All vehicles carry comment cards. Ask the driver for one. You can fill one out and give it to the driver or mail it in after your trip. Survey Once a year an independent survey firm does a large customer satisfaction survey of East Bay Paratransit riders. The survey questions are asked on the telephone to a random sample of riders. Please help us by participating in the survey if you are contacted. All complaints are acted on. You will receive a postcard letting you know your complaint was received. You may call us after 14 days if you want to know the outcome of the complaint investigation. 18

Rider Advisory Committee East Bay Paratransit has a rider advisory committee that meets every other month in Oakland. You can attend meetings and speak to the committee. You can also apply to be a member of the committee. Call the Paratransit Coordinator for more information. Brochures Request one of these brochures by calling East Bay Paratransit All About East Bay Paratransit Everything About Standing Orders Tips for Dialysis Secret Riders East Bay Paratransit also gets information from a few riders who keep detailed records on how their rides are going for about six months. In return for their help, these people are reimbursed with fare tickets. If you are interested in helping in this way, call the Paratransit Coordinator. Lost and Found Riders and their attendants and companions are responsible for keeping track of their personal possessions while traveling on East Bay Paratransit. If you discover you have left something on a vehicle, call our Customer Service Center to report it. If the item is found, you will be contacted and told where the item is being stored. You will have up to 30 days to retreive it, before it is donated to charity. If you take an East Bay Paratransit ride to pick up your possession, you will be charged the normal fare. 19

Other Paratransit Systems In addition to East Bay Paratransit, most cities in the East Bay also provide some type of paratransit services. Contact your city s paratransit program to see what services they can provide to you. Cities with Paratransit Programs Alameda Albany Berkeley Castro Valley (with Hayward) El Cerrito Emeryville Fremont Hayward Newark Oakland Piedmont (with Oakland) Richmond San Leandro San Lorenzo (with Hayward) San Pablo Union City Paratransit Program Phone Number (510) 747-7500 (510) 524-9122 (510) 981-7269 (510) 583-4230 (510) 559-7677 (510) 596-3730 (510) 574-2053 (510) 583-4230 (510) 791-7879 (510) 238-3036 (510) 238-3036 (510) 307-8028 (510) 577-3462 (510) 583-4230 (510) 215-3095 (510) 476-1500 20

Contact East Bay Paratransit East Bay Paratransit Office 1722 Broadway Oakland, CA 94612 (510) 287-5000 Toll Free 1-800-555-8085 Fax (510) 628-0719 TTD/TTY (510) 287-5065 www.eastbayparatransit.org Administration... M-F, 8 am to 5 pm Cancellations... 24 hours Complaints... 24 hours Customer Service Center... Every day, 4 am to 1 am Eligibility Certification... M-F, 8 am to 5 pm General Information... Every day, 4 am to 1 am Ticket Sales... M-F, 8 am to 5 pm Reservations... Every day, 8 am to 5 pm East Bay Paratransit Program Coordinator (510) 893-5949 Rider Advisory Committee Ride Reporters Sponsoring Transit Agencies AC Transit Accessible Services Department (510) 891-7261 BART Paratransit Programs (510) 464-6184